Debate rivals pile on Romney in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Mitt Romney was thrown off balance for the first time in the 2012 race, as a gang of primary opponents assailed him on the issues of health care and immigration during Tuesday night’s GOP debate.

Romney has largely coasted through a season’s worth of Republican candidate forums. That appeared to change in Nevada on Tuesday, as multiple rivals blasted his record from the right — starting with the universal health care law Romney signed in Massachusetts.

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“You just don’t have credibility, Mitt, when it comes to repealing Obamacare,” former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum charged. “You have no track record on that that we can trust.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich piled on: “There’s a lot of big government behind Romneycare. Not as much as Obamacare, but a heck of a lot more than your campaign is admitting.”

Those bruising hits may have been overshadowed by a harsher, more personal attack against Romney from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who accused Romney of knowingly allowing illegal immigrants to work on his house.

“You hired illegals in your home, and you knew about it for a year,” Perry said. “The idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you’re strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy.”

The attack referred to a 2007-vintage report from The Boston Globe, which revealed that a company Romney used for lawn care had hired illegal workers.

The former Massachusetts governor pushed back against both sets of attacks but struggled at times to get a word in edgewise against opponents who repeatedly interrupted him.

And in the exchange with Perry, Romney got visibly flustered and delivered a gaffe suggesting his choice of lawn-care company was politically motivated.

“I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake. I can’t have illegals,” said Romney, who jabbed that Perry’s attack came from desperation after “a tough couple of debates.”

On health care, Romney continued to describe the Massachusetts health care law as a state-level measure that wasn’t intended to serve as a model for the nation.

“It was something that was crafted for a state,” Romney said. “The people of Massachusetts like it by a three-to-one margin.”

It’s too soon to say whether the CNN-hosted debate will mark a tonal shift in a GOP race that has, to date, featured few direct attacks on Romney. Until tonight, Romney had never appeared flustered in a debate.

Perry’s repeated attacks on Romney over his lawn-care company’s hiring practices drew boos from the audience in Romney-friendly Nevada. Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said that reaction showed Perry’s aggression went over the top.